Prioritising youth or training facilities

[Blah_1123]

I've been managing Dulwich Hamlet in FM22 and I've got them promoted twice now so they are in league 2. Money is a bit tight but I really want to start upgrading facilities, I've already got an improvement to junior coaching and youth recruitment. I know that above the age of 18 match time is more important than training for players improving. Therefore, would it be better to prioritise improving my youth facilities as young players depend upon training to improve whereas the senior squad improves more from playing games, making training facilities less beneficial? I like to focus on youth development in FM so do like to produce my own talent.

[herne79]

Youth facilities don’t help train your young players.  They are part of new player generation for your youth intake and help determine the quality of these newgens.

Training facilities are to help develop the players at your club, both young and old.

In terms of prioritising which to expand they’re both important.  I’d start by looking at which area at your club is worse and perhaps start there.

[phnompenhandy]

Of the 4 options, only Training Facilities affect the players once they're at your club.

Youth Facilities affect young kids long before they join you, so it might be a few years before you see any benefit. Both Training and Youth Facilities are very expensive and take time to build, whereas Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment are cheaper and kick in immediately, meaning they might get you a better intake from your academy. Hiring better coaching staff is also cheaper than improving the facilities, so it depends on what your plans are - survive in League Two, work the transfer market, or a long-term programme of developing youth internally and bringing them into your first team.

[Blah_1123]

I was always under the impression that youth facilities were the training facilities than your youth team used. Played this game for years but still learning things 😅. Think I'll prioritise the training facilities for now as my intakes are coming in with pretty good potential and decent ability as is. 

[dalenichol]

On 07/02/2023 at 12:41, phnompenhandy said:

Of the 4 options, only Training Facilities affect the players once they're at your club.

Youth Facilities affect young kids long before they join you, so it might be a few years before you see any benefit. Both Training and Youth Facilities are very expensive and take time to build, whereas Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment are cheaper and kick in immediately, meaning they might get you a better intake from your academy. Hiring better coaching staff is also cheaper than improving the facilities, so it depends on what your plans are - survive in League Two, work the transfer market, or a long-term programme of developing youth internally and bringing them into your first team.

Just to touch on this, do you know (I'm not asking for statistically backed factual data) just how important/beneficial the hiring of better coaching staff would be, particularly at lower leave/weaker teams?

I'm steadily improving both sets of facilities here in Luxembourg but have always skimped on staff to save costs. We've got £16m in the bank and don't really spend on players, so I'm wondering if it's worth breaking my self enforced wage barrier to bring in some significantly better coaches? (Most coaches will want more than my better players earn, for example). 

The more I think about it, the more I think it's clearly obvious that having better coaching staff would be obviously beneficial, but I wasn't sure if that would be negated by having ****** facilities?

[phnompenhandy]

3 hours ago, dalenichol said:

Just to touch on this, do you know (I'm not asking for statistically backed factual data) just how important/beneficial the hiring of better coaching staff would be, particularly at lower leave/weaker teams?

I'm steadily improving both sets of facilities here in Luxembourg but have always skimped on staff to save costs. We've got £16m in the bank and don't really spend on players, so I'm wondering if it's worth breaking my self enforced wage barrier to bring in some significantly better coaches? (Most coaches will want more than my better players earn, for example). 

The more I think about it, the more I think it's clearly obvious that having better coaching staff would be obviously beneficial, but I wasn't sure if that would be negated by having ****** facilities?

Haven't got factual data, but as an experienced lower leaguer, I'd say you can't get facilities or staff who are good enough to make a huge difference. The ONLY factor that significantly improves the players is playing first team competitive matches.

[Cloud9]

On 08/02/2023 at 10:56, dalenichol said:

Just to touch on this, do you know (I'm not asking for statistically backed factual data) just how important/beneficial the hiring of better coaching staff would be, particularly at lower leave/weaker teams?

I'm steadily improving both sets of facilities here in Luxembourg but have always skimped on staff to save costs. We've got £16m in the bank and don't really spend on players, so I'm wondering if it's worth breaking my self enforced wage barrier to bring in some significantly better coaches? (Most coaches will want more than my better players earn, for example). 

The more I think about it, the more I think it's clearly obvious that having better coaching staff would be obviously beneficial, but I wasn't sure if that would be negated by having ****** facilities?

Second what @phnompenhandy said here.

From a practical perspective: in lower league football youth players/additional staff and wages are usually a luxury you can't afford. When I'm managing lower league football one of the first things I do is move out of players from the youth team. You'll want success and promotions now and those players won't get you where you're going. Their wages add up end up being a few solid first teams players on free transfers, which can make all the difference. 

That being said bringing home grown youth players into the first team is a real joy. Up to how you want to manage and the financial constraints you're placing on your save.

[phnompenhandy]

23 minutes ago, Cloud9 said:

Second what @phnompenhandy said here.

From a practical perspective: in lower league football youth players/additional staff and wages are usually a luxury you can't afford. When I'm managing lower league football one of the first things I do is move out of players from the youth team. You'll want success and promotions now and those players won't get you where you're going. Their wages add up end up being a few solid first teams players on free transfers, which can make all the difference. 

That being said bringing home grown youth players into the first team is a real joy. Up to how you want to manage and the financial constraints you're placing on your save.

Heh, I do lower league academy only campaigns precisely because it's a damn difficult combo. I'm managing Polperro in the 10th tier at the moment!

[dalenichol]

We're getting there. Board aren't entertaining any more upgrades at this point.

10 seasons in and it's starting to get a bit boring, my striker has just finished the season on 100 goals in all competitions. Which you'd think would be fun, but it's not. 

Plan was always to start producing the goods through the academy, so it might be time to go academy only and see how we get on, but trying to balance the domestic dominance with trying to progress in Europe, get the rankings up and hope some of our league rivals actually starting doing something worthwhile.